2001-2002 Season Preview

The 2001-02 Wilson Area High School wrestling team faces an exceptionally demanding challenge this season. What is that? "Simply"... to outdo last year's squad! But "simple" is hardly the right word. How tough will this be to pull off? Well, it just might be impossible! Consider what last year's team did: won the Colonial League, Wilson Invitational (with 6 champs), District XI duals, District XI tournament, SE Regional tournament, and PIAA State duals... not to mention being nationally ranked and placing 6th at the Beast of the East.  To make this task even tougher, five seniors graduated including 100-match winners Justin Hartrum (109 wins and 6th at states) and Heath Lohrman (111 wins and state runner up).

Is it possible to make this more difficult yet? How about adding St. Ed's, Ohio to a schedule that already included Easton. We return to the Beast of the East (maybe the best tourney in the nation) and Bethlehem Holiday tournaments! Our own Wilson Invitational will undoubtedly prove to be a grueling affair with the addition of District 3 AAA Dual Meet champions Boyertown... who will be even stronger this year.

While last season's squad was a dream team in many respects... last year is last year... and few things are colder than yesterday's champions. So we focus on the present and the future. While the challenge is unbelievably difficult, the cupboards were not left totally bare by any means. In fact, if ANY team has the ability to accomplish the "impossible", it could very well be this year's squad. The 2001-02 version of the Warriors' wrestling team is led by one of the best senior classes in school history. This senior group is led by state runner up Jeremy Hartrum (40-6). With 106 career wins, Hartrum would like to become Wilson's all-time winningest wrestler as well as Wilson's 8th state champ.

If you think this is a one-man show, however, you are sadly mistaken. Senior Cory Garis (39-8) is a defending district champ (and outstanding wrestler) and regional runner up. He was also a state freestyle runner up and narrowly missed being an all-American. Other truly outstanding seniors include Bobby Frey (38-10) who was a regional runner up and Bryan Eckhart (33-10) who was second at districts and third at regionals and a two-time state qualifier. Nick Krecker (29-10) is another senior who has the talent to bring home a medal from Hershey as does Derrek Whisenant (12-7) a defending Wilson Invitational champion.

There isn't a senior class monopoly on all of Wilson's talent, however. Junior Tony Curto was the sentimental favorite of last year's post-season. He entered districts seeded LAST in his weight but finished second dropping a close decision to the returning state champ. Tony went on to finish 6th at regionals. Another junior Ed Labatch (30-12) also ended up 6th at regionals. But Labatch did it the hard way competing three weight class above his normal weight. Erick Vaughn (8-6) is also back as is 2000 district place winner David Iobst who saw limited action last year because of an injury. Joe Kushnerick (17-7) was the only freshman to make the starting lineup as a regular last year.

So, as we look ahead to see what lies on the horizon, some may view the challenges as difficult. Others may see them as impossible. But a word to the wise: Be careful not to count the Warriors out. They are determined to...

...the difficult today... the IMPOSSIBLE tomorrow!